


With One Stone

by Jade_Dragoness



Category: Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Explosions, M/M, Magic, Monsters, POV: John Marcone, Written Post-Small Favor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-14
Updated: 2009-04-13
Packaged: 2017-10-19 00:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Dragoness/pseuds/Jade_Dragoness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems as if no matter where Harry Dresden went, explosions followed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I looked around the room with quiet satisfaction. The hotel room ballroom was filled to the brim with the influential and wealthy of Chicago’s elite. Helen, who had entered the room on my arm, left my side and headed for the thickest crowd of men. Among them were several who paid patronage her establishment.

Mr. Hendricks followed me at my back, as I too entered the fray of small talk. Ms. Gard remained on the outskirts, keeping a look for any use of magic from the sidelines, far enough away to be unobtrusive but close enough to reach me swiftly should any situation warrant such action. In these situations, where a threat was bound to be non-magical, Mr. Hendricks was point in my defense and Ms. Gard followed his lead.

Among the standard rich were a few people who were members from the far side of the mundane. One such was the tall and unmistakable figure of Chicago’s only self-proclaimed wizard, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.

I don’t think he knew I was here. Whenever we came into contact, there was a distinct tension to him that was currently missing.

Mr. Hendricks gave a low grunt, as he too caught the sight of Harry Dresden. It was not a pleased sound.

“Now, Mr. Hendricks let's maintain a polite demeanor,” I murmured quietly, but with enough steel in my voice to make it an order and not a request. I walked in a circuit that allowed to me to interact with quite a few influential people. I was certain to have a threatening word with the few that needed it, taking them aside for one on one and watching them pale from my words.

Sometimes, it was necessary to remind those under my sphere of control that no matter how high their rank rose in the public eye when it came to certain things they would adhere to my decisions. I didn’t get any particular joy or satisfaction from delivering these reminders. It was necessary to smooth out potential problem areas before they became true problems that could only be satisfied with the application of violence. If frightening a few people meant that it kept amount of blood spilled in the future down to a minimum then it was a task I undertook without hesitation.

It was inevitable that my circuit of the room brought me face to face with Mr. Dresden, Harry. He may not like me calling him by his first name but not even he could prevent me from indulging in doing so within the privacy of my own mind.

“Marcone,” Harry’s mouth twisted down. His dark eyes were wary and the fierce scowl on his face it made more threatening than I think even he knew.

“Mr. Dresden,” I answered him, my voice calm and pleasant.

“What the _hell_ are you doing here?”

“It is _my_ hotel, Mr. Dresden,” I said. “Surely, that gives me more right to be here than anyone else in the room. Yourself included.”

His scowl got darker at my reply and I had to resist a smile. I have few pleasures in life that I allow myself to indulge. Teasing Harry Dresden and watching him huff in response is one of those few joys, and truly my favorite. If he knew the depth of my pleasure at seeing his eyes narrow and his lips tighten with the thunderous expression he often developed whenever we interacted, then he would have found a way of ceasing his reactions. This would truly be a pity.

So, I drank in the sight of him while being careful to not let my smile grow larger than a small curve upon my lips. As always I had the urge to touch him. My desire was an expression I made sure was never shown on my face. I was fairly certain his reaction would be less than pleased.

“I would request that you do not burn down this building,” I continued.

“Har de har har,” Harry said sarcastically. “I don‘t set all your buildings on fire. Sometimes, I just blow them up.” And he smirked at me.

I raised my eyebrows at that. It wasn’t a threat, more of a reminder.

Then a loud feminine scream pierced the air making Harry and I both jerk around. The crowd of party goers pulled away from the source driven by fear, until we could see a man, with dark features holding a gun and pointing it in our direction.

Harry tensed at my side. Then, with speed that caught me off guard, he grabbed me and shoved me behind him as the man started firing. As he moved Harry murmured words I wasn’t able to catch and I could see a faint white shimmer that looked rather like a heat wave in the air in front of us. A shield, which caused the bullets to bounce away sending ricochets up into the high ceiling and making it rain down white plaster and shards of crystal upon us. The lights of the chandelier above us, burnt out in a flash of bright light.

The shots that missed us went right into the crowd. More screams tore into the air. People dived for cover or simply fell to the floor.

Harry snarled a sound of pure animal rage.

I grabbed one of my knives, swearing under my breath for not having a gun on me, I spun out of the way of Harry’s shield, sending a knife straight at the gunner. He saw it coming and dodged out of the way. I saw Mr. Hendricks appear out of the corner of my eye, and point his gun at the shooter. I drew another knife making certain that the gunner could see it in my hands. The diversion kept him from noticing Mr. Hendricks taking aim.

Mr. Hendricks’s shot was true.

It took only one short bark of the gun and the gunner’s corpse dropped to the floor, his limbs splayed out. Blood and brain matter splattered wetly to the rose marble floor. The gun he’d been holding also dropped, fortunately not discharging any more shots. Screams from the crowd intensified, before sharply cutting off. Low moans and whimpers came from the wounded. There were sobs from those who hadn’t been hurt physically though I couldn’t speak for the emotional trauma they now carried.

I reached the corpse quickly. I had seen-

Yes, I was right. Tucked below the dark blazer he’d been wearing, strapped to his chest were explosives. The red glow of the timer was centered clear on the corpse’s sternum. My breath caught as the timer showed 14:43. Less than fifteen minutes until the bomb exploded.

I could see Harry running towards me from the corner of my eyes.

“Stop!” I shouted, flinging up a palm. He jerked to a stop. I was too aware of the sort of affect that, as a wizard, Harry had on technology. The last thing we needed was for him to set it off by sheer proximity.

Harry frowned at me, and then his gaze dropped to the bomb. His eyes widened comically, and he took a couple steps back.

“Son of a bitch,” he said.

“Quite,” I agreed. I turned my head to Mr. Hendricks's direction. He was keeping an eye on the crowd, scanning them for any other attackers. “Mr. Hendricks, please start evacuating the hotel. Get a hold of the general manager and have her call the police for a bomb disposal squad.”

I was too aware of time ticking by and the red glow of the bomb being entirely too visible. I tugged the blazer over the bomb. I did not want to cause more of a panic to the already wounded crowd but I also needed these people taken somewhere safe. Without me having to say a word, Ms. Gard and Helen took the initiative and began herding out everyone in the ballroom. Ms. Gard also applied her field medical experience and helped the wounded. I was amused to see her ruthlessly pressgang those who were uninjured into helping those that were hurt. It was probably some of the most self-less acts some of those politicians had ever done.

My assistance wasn’t needed so I stayed near the bomb. Harry remained nearby.

“Can you use your magic to dismantle the explosive at all?” I asked him. As the last of the civilians walked out the double doors, I pulled the bomb back into view. 6:33.

Harry shook his head. “I don‘t dare use my magic around the bomb. I could accidentally set it off prematurely. It wouldn‘t be the first time.”

I nodded, knowing exactly which incident he meant. I kept closer track of his movements than he would prefer, had he known of their extent. I pulled out one of the many knives secreted in sheaths around my body and bent over the bomb.

Harry inhaled sharply as my fingers traced the red and black wires.

“Do you know what you‘re doing?” he asked.

“I know there‘s enough C4 here to take out not only this floor but the next two above and below us,” I answered him.

The sudden blaring of an alarm made Harry jump. He swore in surprise. The sound of the fire alarm going off let me know Mr. Hendricks had started the evacuation of the hotel. Good. There were too many innocents in the hotel; I would not have them harmed.

“If you aren‘t going to be useful Mr. Dresden, then I suggest that you get out of the building.” It was going to take concentration to attempt to defuse the bomb. I did not trust my rusty knowledge of explosives to be confident that I would be able to do so without error. The possibility of an explosion was too high.

I checked the time again.

5:45  
5:44  
5:43

“I‘m not leaving.”

I closed my eyes and held in a sigh of exasperation. Even when given an order that was solely for his own benefit, Harry Dresden refused to be anything but obstinate. There are few men which had such force of will. I admired this personality trait, but there were times I wanted nothing more than to shake some semblance of sense into him.

“You said so yourself. Your magic is less than useless when dealing with this bomb,” I said. “You may even unintentionally set it off prematurely.”

Harry looked like I had slapped him. Then his mouth firmed, his brows dropped low and he growled at me. I ignored it. In certain occasions he was more bark than bite. This was one of those times.

“I may be able to contain the explosion,” he finally said grudgingly.

My eyebrows went up in surprise. “The amount of power the bomb hold-”

“I can do it,” Harry interrupted me.

I had known that his power, or to be exact, his own control of his power had increased over the years since we made our acquaintance, but I had no idea that it had developed to such an extent.

Harry must have read the skepticism in my expression because he added, “Or at the very least, I can minimize the damage it will cause.”

“Very well,” I said.

“But you‘ll need to set up a circle first,” he said.

“A circle?”

“Anyone can do it. Even you, John,” Harry said.

I suppressed a scowl.

He dug a piece of chalk out of the pockets of his leather duster and handed it to me, being careful to stay away from the bomb. He swiftly led me through the instructions.

“How do you know that the circle will protect the bomb from your magic?” I asked him, curious. And I wondered why I had not been told of this form of protection from magical energies from Ms. Gard. I tucked it to the back of my mind for later consideration, should I manage to have a later for such discussions.

“Because I‘ve actually tested it before. Trust me. It‘ll work,” he answered me testily.

Trust.

While there have been many sore points of contention between us, I can honestly say that trust has never really been much of an issue. At least, not trust in each other’s particular set of skills, though trust on the more personal level hasn’t developed beyond that of two people forced to rely on each other for their lives. A trust that withered whenever we parted again. Such a situation was not the sort I would have chosen had my plans to ensnare Harry in a contractual obligation to myself borne fruit.

I nodded and carefully drew the circle around the corpse, the bomb, and myself. I used one of my knives to prick a bead of blood from my finger until a few droplets fell onto the white chalk. I didn’t feel anything happen but I could see Harry’s response. He relaxed. Just a bit, there was still a bomb in the room about to explode, but he was no longer worried that he was going to be the cause that would set it off prematurely. It had worked, just as he said.

I turned back to the bomb. The timer now glowed 4:30.

Harry was chanting something Latin sounding at my back. No true Latin, I knew, but some gibberish mix of Latin and English.

I looked to see a dome of blue energy arc over my head. He had to be putting a lot of power into the spell for it to be so visible to my eyes. I just hoped that it could contain the explosion like he promised.

The timer read 4:02.

“Did you notice, the guy didn‘t say a word,” Harry said, sounding tired but not strained.

“I did,” I admitted.

“Between that and his looks, I think I know who sent him,” said Harry.

I tilted my head thoughtfully as I studied the features of our attacker. There was a look to him that was familiar, as if I’d seen him before or possibly someone who shared certain Middle Eastern genetic markers. Suspicion made my shoulders tense.

“Check if he still has a tongue,” suggested Harry.

I pulled open the mouth of the corpse and saw what I expected to see. Or, I should clarify, what I didn’t see.

“His tongue has been cut out,” I said, anger making my voice tight. “And it‘s not recent.”

“Son of a bitch,” breathed Harry.

“Quite,” I said, yet again. The Denarians. I did not look forward to getting reacquainted with their number. The last encounter I had with them had left a permanent reminder upon my visage.

I resisted the urge to touch my scarred ear. Even reconstructive surgery hadn’t failed to reduce the appearance of a ragged scar along the ear shell, though it was a great improvement to its previous state.

“This isn‘t Nicodemus‘ style,” said Harry after a moment of silence. We both needed it simply to take it in.

“Deirdre,” Harry continued. He smacked his hand onto his gloved one. “It has to be her!”

“What makes you so certain?” I asked.

“Last time we tangled, she promised vengeance.”

My eyebrows rose at that. I would hardly think that was a situation that was unique to Harry. His ratio of death threats even exceeded my own at times, which considering illegality of my business, was quite an accomplishment.

Harry gave me a small smile. “I‘m pretty sure I killed Nicodemus. Even if it was only for a while.”

My eyebrows rose up higher. I knew first hand exactly how difficult the leader of the Denarians was to injure. I had personally emptied clips of ammunition into him without so much as making him pause. What exactly had Harry done?

“How?” I asked, unable to keep my desperate desire to know from affecting the tone of my voice. If ever there were people that I would want dead, for no other reason than revenge, it would be the Denarians. They were worse than scum. The things that they had done to the little girl, the torture that they had inflicted upon her out of pure enjoyment.

I would have torn them apart with my own hands if I had been capable. She was a child and they had laughed at her fear. For the memory of her terror, I’d do anything in my power to wipe them from the surface of the planet. And while it hadn’t been Nicodemus’s hands which had pulled the screams from the child they had certainly been the manipulator tugging at the strings of those who did. There aren’t many people that I truly desire dead, even in my line of work. Nicodemus was an exception and should the situation arise, I would gladly claim his life.

“How did you do it?”

Harry blinked at me, surprised by my vehement demand. Understanding made his eyes widen.

“Shouldn‘t you be focusing on the bomb?” asked Harry.

I double checked the timer: 3:12.

“I‘m not going to try to deactivate the bomb until Mr. Hendricks has as much time as possible to evacuate the hotel. I‘m no expert at bomb defusing. I could easily make a mistake that would set if off sooner. We have time.” I said, looking at him.

Harry looked frustrated but sighed in agreement.

“Do you remember the noose Nicodemus wears?”

I nodded. “You said that was what kept the bullets from affecting him.”

“Yeah, that thing almost makes him invincible,” Harry smirked. “Almost. The only thing that noose can‘t protect him from is itself.” Harry spread his hands and his smile grew wider. “So, I used it for the purpose it was originally intended.” There was dark satisfaction in his smile.

“Oh, the irony,” I said, in amusement.

“I killed him,” Harry said flatly, no satisfaction in him now. “I know I did, but with that Fallen in him I can‘t tell you if the bastard is still dead.”

“What a pity,” I said sincerely.

“Yeah,” agreed Harry. He ran a hand through his hair. “And even if I didn’t manage to kill him, his daughter would still want me dead.”

“She wouldn’t face you on her own?” I asked.

Harry grimaced, “Honestly, I don’t think she would. But I have no idea how to judge her actions if she is making the calls on her own. I‘ve only ever seen her working with Nicodemus. I know his style.” Harry waved a hand at the corpse. “And this isn‘t it.”

“So, you think she could be the only one behind this bomber,” I said thoughtfully. The logic behind his reasoning made sense.

“Unless you know of any other people who use minions without tongues and would want to go after the two of us,” he asked rhetorically.

My mouth quirked up. “There is a rather limited pool of suspects.”

Harry snorted in amusement at that.

I flicked my eyes over to the timer, 2:04. I tried again. “Mr. Dresden, if there is a way to set your shield in place while you escape then it would be best if you did so.”

Harry stiffened. “Do you think I want to be here? This is the only way I can think of to minimize deaths. No way is everyone in the hotel able to get out of the building in ten minutes. Not in a building of this size and especially not while most of them are probably taking the fire stairs because they won‘t trust elevators.”

He looked into my eyes intently, “For the last time, I’m not leaving.”

I nodded and gave up trying to convince him to get to safety. There were less than two minutes on the timer, so it wouldn’t have done much help had I succeeded, yet I had to ask at least once more, if only to assuage the last remnants of my conscience.

I pulled out another knife from a hidden sheath and again retraced the flow of the wires with my fingers. I needed to cut off the electrical signal from sparking the explosion without setting off the bomb. Considering the complexity of the electronics I could see in the timer and the fact that the explosive of choice was C-4 as opposed to the more easily accessible dynamite there was a distinct possibility of the existence of booby traps which would set off the bomb if someone incorrectly defused it. Fortunately, I had a fairly good idea of which wires were the vital ones. So, it was just a matter of picking the correct ones from that small selection.

So, I waited until the timer passed the one minute mark before I gripped the selected wires tightly in my hands, pulling them taunt so my blade sliced through them all at once.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry inhaled sharply next to me and the timer stopped, the red numbers flickered twice and then went out.

I slowly let out the breath I had been holding in. The knuckles of my hand holding the knife were white from the force of my grip on the handle. I flexed my fingers to loosen the tight muscles and tendons.

“What do you know,” Harry said, his voice shaking slightly, “we‘re not dead.”

“So it would appear,” I said, after swallowing hard. Still, my own voice came out sounding rough.

Harry suddenly laughed, loud and joyous. The smile on his face was entirely too appealing and I for once was incapable of resisting my impulses. I reached across the circle of chalk, and I tugged him towards me until my mouth was stilling his smile.

He stiffened in shock.

It was only a brief moment. Not even a full second before I was pulling back and felt embarrassed over the break in my self-control. It was one thing to think about the attractiveness of Harry’s defiant personality and the appeal of his dark glowering scowls. It was quite another to go about expressing my… affections.

I straightened up the line of my jacket and kept my eyes averted from Harry’s burning gaze. Even without the possibility of a second soulgaze between us, I have found him to be disturbingly accurate when it came to reading the most subtle of nuances in human body language and facial expressions. I didn't want to give anything further away to him than I already had.

“You kissed me,” he said. His tone was so disbelieving I was tempted to look at him to see if his eyes were as wide as I was imagining them to be.

“Yes. Possibly I was caught up in the moment of unexpectedly escaping death by explosion,” I said calmly. Harry made a choking noise, and that’s when an ominous beep sounded from the corpse. My heart skipped a beat. “Or maybe, I spoke too soon,” I said with dread.

“Bastard has a second bomb!” Harry growled.

No, if there was another bomb attached to the corpse then I would have seen it.

Another look at the body revealed a backup in case the first bomb failed. It was hidden neatly under the first timer. Technically, it wasn’t another bomb. Rather it was another detonator carefully hidden under the first and tied to the C4. It was intended to trigger if the timer on the first detonator was deactivated, then it would start a new countdown.

And it did, this time with only 50 seconds left on the timer.

Even worse, the circle preventing Harry’s magic from affecting the electronics of the device was now broken because of my actions which meant there was no certainty that the timer would be accurate. Harry’s magic could accelerate the detonator or slow it down, or even stop it from ever exploding. There was no way to know.

Harry swore again and before I could yell at him to get out he grabbed me. “Get ready to run!” He focused his gaze into thin air and made a slashing motion with his arm. Then he shouted, _“Aparturum!”_

A slit formed in the air. It expanded into a ragged oval and on the other side was bright with golden sunshine and vibrant green grass of a large field.

I didn’t hesitate and ran for it. Harry followed behind me, still chanting under out those Latin-sounding words. We crossed the threshold between realities just as the bomb exploded.

I clamped my hands over my ears, partially hiding my face against the fresh grass as fire as heat roared like a giant beast around us. Harry was sprawled next to me, part of his own body shielding my own, as he faced the explosion with his palm out and his fingers spread. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the shield forming around us. It was more visible this time, a multitude of colors that firmed into a more opaque dome as Harry chanted. The shield saved us from being burned to death by the fire and even muffled the concussive force of the blast so it felt as if we were being pressed down into the ground by a giant hand instead of being smashed into it until our bones broke and organs ruptured.

Harry made another slashing motion with his hand and the roar died away quickly, even though the ringing in my ears continued. He dropped his head and arm back to the ground and panted harshly. He looked paler than he should. He’d obviously poured quite a bit of his energy into that shield. It seemed as if Harry Dresden had saved my life yet again. I told him as much as I sat up.

“Don‘t remind me,” Harry groaned.

I ignored his grumblings. If he’d been really serious about letting me face my fate, so to speak, he would never have remained in that room with the bomb and with me when he had every opportunity to leave. Or when I kept reminding him that he had no need to stay.

“Where are we, Dresden?” I asked. I looked around to see that we were surrounded by black burnt vegetation that spread for meters. The only surviving grass near us was the perfect circle we were in, outlining were the shield had protected us. Fortunately, the land was too green to have caught ablaze. It would have been a shame to have survived the bomb only to die from a grass fire.

“Somewhere in the Nevernever,” Harry said.

“I gathered as such when you tore that hole in reality,” I said. “Could you be more specific?”

He grimaced and shakily sat up. I followed suit, rolling myself up to my feet. As I waited for him to finishing examining our surroundings, I checked myself for injuries. I had bruises on my back as well as a sore arm from landing awkwardly, yet nothing was broken. There was also a ringing in my ears was only now beginning to subside. But other than these minor injuries I was in one piece.

What an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Though, I shouldn’t have been so startled. Harry Dresden has made it his field of expertise to pull unorthodox life-saving rabbits out of his hat. Mostly my surprise came that he had done so for my benefit, without being coerced into such an action. I idly wondered if this act shifted the score of who owed whom a debt in the life-saving score card. Hmm, an interesting thought. With my injuries acknowledged and dismissed I turned my gaze back to Harry. He still looked disturbingly pale.

“I think we're somewhere on the outskirts of Summerland,” Harry said. “It‘s a part of the Nevernever that is held by the Faerie Summer Court. I think we should get back to Chicago as soon as possible. Who knows how much time is passing by there while we‘re stuck here.”

I frowned, and considered the knowledge I had acquired over the last few years about both Sidhe courts. He had a very good point. I would hardly consider it beneficial to spend a day here and have weeks, months or even years to pass by in Chicago.

“Do you have the strength to get us back?” I asked him. Harry did look just a few breaths short of death. Not what I consider to be a reassuring state for attempting a skill much more complicated than driving a car. One as complex and requiring concentration equal to disarming a bomb. Or even piloting a helicopter. I helped him to his feet and Harry tried to shake off my assistance. He didn’t even take a full step before he crumbled to the ground. I caught him around his waist before he hit as I had been expecting exactly such a reaction. Harry wheezed in my arms before he caught his breath again.

“I think, that taking the time to recuperate is a necessarily evil rather than a luxury,” I said. “I do not want to end up returning to Chicago ten stories above the ground with no building underneath my feet.”

“We‘d see that before we walked through,” Harry protested.

“It was just an example, Dresden,” I said. “Considering your physical state it would be rather easy to miscalculate.” Harry grimaced and I knew I was correct in my assessment when he didn’t bring up a counter-argument. “How long can we remain here without being detected?”

“Not long,” he said. “And considering how much affection the Summer Queen has for me,” he added sarcastically, “I‘d really rather be back in Chicago.” His face brightened. “We can use the Ways to get back. I think we‘re pretty close to it from here.”

“The Ways?” I asked with interest.

“It‘s the boundary between the Summer and Winter lands. A sort of neutral zone where they merge that happens to belong to both Courts. I know how to get us back to Chicago from there,” Harry said. “We have to head towards that.” He pointed to a snow covered mountain range that spanned the width of the horizon. “The Unseelie Mountains is Winter‘s land. But before it is the Ways.”

“Very well, Mr. Dresden,” I said.

“Oh, it‘s _Mister_ Dresden again, is it?” he grumbled.

I ignored the comment. Almost as soon as we had made our acquaintance, I had come to the conclusion that there were few things that made Harry Dresden happier than to have something to gripe about. I wasn’t about to apologize for my actions.

I supported his weight as we walked to the mountains. It took us the better part of an hour before we came upon a path. But at least by then Harry had recovered sufficiently from his attempt to hold back a major explosion of C4 with only the power of his will so that he could now walk on his own. I admit that I was a trifle disappointed to not feel the warmth of his body at my side. I carefully didn’t let that show in my body language. Although, I couldn’t be certain if Harry didn’t intuit the truth.

“This is it! Well, the beginning of it,” Harry said. He looked around the forest where the path started. “We‘re still pretty far from where we should be to find the exit point back to Chicago.”

“About how far do you estimate our distance?”

Harry frowned. “Not too far. I was actually worried we would be further away. But I recognize this piece of the Nevernever. We need to get further into forest and more uphill before we get to the right spot.”

With a path to follow, I admit I was more relaxed about getting back to Chicago. I was concerned for my employees and the people who had been in the hotel. I had no idea of the number of casualties that had resulted from the shooting and subsequent bomb explosion. I needed to be back as soon as possible, if only to provide the necessary leadership to keep certain hot-heads in my organization from using the incident to their own advantage.

“You know, if it was Deirdre who sent the guy after us,” Harry said, interrupting my mental planning. “Then there’s a pretty good chance that she‘s going to try again.”

My mouth flattened unhappily at that reminder even if I was in full agreement.

“I don’t think she‘s one to give up easily and she doesn‘t exactly care about collateral damage,” he continued.

“The target could have been you- alone,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but I don‘t think so,” he said quietly. “There‘s too much of a chance for someone like that to take me out elsewhere. Why wait until I was in one of your hotels? Especially one where you were going to show up?” He sighed. “And then there‘s the fact my client never showed up like she was supposed to.”

“So, if the client was a fabricated to manipulate you into being at the hotel ballroom at the same time as my arrival, then the timing of the bomber was no coincidence,” I concluded.

Harry nodded. “It‘s a lot easier for someone to get me some place than it would be to try to get you there. So, the plan was to take out two birds with one bomb. And since that didn‘t work…”

“Then the danger we both face is hardly over,” I agreed. I took a moment to think about my options regarding this threat. Reluctantly, I admitted, “I have been trying to locate any signs of the Denarians since the last time they were in Chicago.”

Harry’s head snapped over to me. “You‘ve been what?!”

I frowned at him. I was more than a little surprise at his agitated reaction. “Considering the damage they wrought last time they came to Chicago, I thought it prudent to keep out feelers for any information regarding their movements. I wasn‘t about to be caught off-guard again,” I said, my voice cool and steely. I sighed. “But I haven‘t been able to find much, just long cold trails.”

“I‘d be more surprised if you had,” Harry said, frowning. “They‘ve been at this game a lot longer than both of us have been alive. Combined.”

“Yes,” I said sourly. It was rather difficult to attempt to outwit beings with centuries of experience. It had been a humbling- and painful lesson- to learn.

“Doing that was dangerous,” Harry said. I just looked at him and raised my eyebrows. “Okay, I forgot who I was talking to,” he said, rolling his eyes in amusement.

“I’m vastly more prepared for them than I was before,” I said.

“I bet you are,” Harry sighed. “Not that I want them to show up in Chicago anytime soon.”

We continued walking.

“If you do get any sort of advanced warning on them, will you tell me?” he finally asked, after several minutes of silence.

I looked at him in surprise. “If you‘d like, but I would ask that same courtesy from you should they show up again.”

I could see him struggle with the idea of helping me before he grimaced and agreed.

“It doesn‘t mean I‘m working for you!” he added narrowing his eyes at me.

“Truly a loss that I will never recover from,” I murmured.

“Smartass,” Harry said.

My lips quirked in amusement.

“I just wish I knew more of how Deirdre will react,” Harry continued, his voice becoming frustrated. “Hell, even if it was her mother I‘d have a better idea of what I could expect next.”

“There is a chance that she will not attempt another similar assassination attempt,” I said.

“What makes you say that?” asked Harry, frowning.

“I did spend more time than I care to in the presence of the Denarians. She respects her father greatly-”

“Yeah, to a rather incestuous degree,” Harry said interrupting me. He grimaced, obviously remembering a scene, no doubt similar to the sort that I had seen while being held captive.

I nodded, distaste twisting my lips. “So she obeys him. She has been following his lead for centuries. I don‘t believe that she has the strength of will to continue with such aggressive actions on her own. Especially since the first attempt failed to accomplish its objective and revealed her to us.”

“Maybe,” Harry said, thoughtfully. “But there is also the Fallen to consider. _It_ changes things, and how she could plan things out. It gives her an edge, one that’s sharper than a razor.”

“If she keeps using mortal assassins then she loses that edge,” I said.

“Yeah,” Harry said, nodding. “But she has more of those to throw at us than we have lives to survive her attempts.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his dry tone. My humor drained away after a moment. It wasn’t exactly a situation that warranted my amusement. Though, Harry has always been able to amuse me _and_ irritate me greatly, though that nearly goes without saying.

Harry grumbled, his tone frustrated. “I can make all sorts of wild guesses but I can‘t do anything until we get back to Chicago. She may send another assassin. She may give up. She may step up her threat level, or maybe she‘ll even put it off to another day when our guard goes down. She has the years to be patient about planning another attack.”

“So, our situation is purely reactive. We don’t know were to find her. We don’t know how to track her down. Her resources are likely more extensive than our own, and she has more than enough incentive to try again,” I summarized.

“Yeah, we‘re going to get screwed,” Harry sid.

“Sideways,” I agreed. Harry tossed me a surprised look and chuckled. “Then all we can do is tighten our defenses… unless you have a plan to draw her out?”

“No, not really,” Harry sighed, he rubbed his face. His action emphasized the hollows under his eyes. His exhaustion was increasing the longer we walked. I could see that he was struggling to keep his thoughts coherent and logical while keeping his body moving forward. He wavered and once again, I stepped close offering my support.

Harry gave me a wary look but accepted my actions, slinging his arm around my shoulder and letting me take a good portion of his weight. I suppressed a smile. Harry’s contrary nature would have him pulling away from any offer of assistance if he thought I derived any sort of satisfaction from it.

We were silent again. I was lost in thinking about the sort of defenses and offenses I could bring to bear upon Deirdre, and any other Denarians that could be accompanying her, while Harry seemed to be focused solely on keeping his feet moving forward. It wasn’t until I saw his skin tone go grey when he stumbled over a dip in the path that I insisted upon a break.

“We really shouldn‘t,” Harry said, wearily. “This part of the Nevernever may look like a typical piece of forest you‘d see back in the mortal world but it‘s not at all safe.”

“You can barely walk. A break is necessary,” I said.

Harry sank to the ground with a muted sigh of relief and I knew my decision had been a correct one when color started to flow back into his face after only ten minutes of rest. My attention was so focused upon him I nearly missed a soft rustle of leaves, barely audible upon the cooling breeze coming from the mountains.

 _Nearly._

I had a knife in hand and was spinning face direction of the sound when I was struck with a wave of terror that forced me to my knees. I cried out, and then bit my lip when another wave of fear crashed over me. At my side, Harry gasped and then swore as I reeled under the emotional assault. He pulled out his blasting rod from his dark leather duster.

 _“Fuego!”_ he shouted, pointing it towards the woods. There was loud crack of wood splintering, and then black smoke filled the air.

I coughed, and shivered as the grip of terror loosened its hold on me. My lower lip stung were I had bitten through in the effort not to cry out.

“Show yourself,” Harry thundered. He was on his feet and was glaring all around us. Yet for all the force of his personality radiating from his stance and voice, I could see that his exhaustion was deepening and only stubborn will was keeping him upright.

A vicious snigger radiated from the forest, sounding as if we were surrounded.

“Show yourself! Show yourself!” ordered Harry. I narrowed my eyes and stood back to my feet.

At the third call, a low snarl rattled the lower branches of the trees and a shape appeared in the shadows of the trees. Only the light thrown by the still burning branches, revealed the figure to our eyes.

Clad in red rags and stinking of rotting flesh, the figure was a caricature of a human man, with elongated limbs, and pointed teeth glistening with a yellow and brown patina of decay. Black eyes, below thick brows glared at us, “Mortals! Thou are not but meat to scream and feast upon!”

“A fear darrig. A Red Man,” Harry said quietly to me. Then he bared _his_ teeth at it and snarled back. “I am a Wizard of the White Council and walk the Ways with the Winter Queen‘s permission! We are not meat to feed thee!”

There was a moment of silence, and then the creature spoke again. “Mortal wizard thou mayest be, but the one beside you is not. Stand aside mortal wizard. His fear and flesh is mine to taste.”

Harry didn’t look like he could take on a child let another this faerie creature.

I held a knife in each hand and took a couple of steps so that I stood in front of Harry. I ignored his protests and orders to stay back. “Creature. I‘m no mere mortal. I‘m the freeholding lord of Chicago and surrounding territories in accordance with the Unseelie Accords. Your own Queen upholds these Accords. If you seek to dine upon my flesh, you will face me in combat,” I said my voice cold and ringing with authority.

The fear darrig’s face twisted, and from this close I could see that the red of his clothes wasn’t from any dye but rather from blood. The cloth had been soaked in it, and with some sort of magic the shade of fresh blood had been set, and kept the color from deepening to brown when it dried. This was the origin of the stench: old blood. Hardly surprising that such a creature was called a Red Man.

Yet, it was fear I could see on its expression as it saw the knives in my hands. Knife made of steel. Iron, the thing most poisonous to faeries. Then stepping up to my side, Harry drew out his gun. More iron.

There was a moment of silence, and then the Red Man bowed. “My apologies to thee mortal lord.” Without another word the Red Man instantly vanished.

Harry sighed in relief, and tucked the gun away, though he kept the blasting rod at hand.

“That seemed a little too effortless a resolution.” I said, my eyes flickering around the forest for more threats.

“Yeah,” Harry said. “Normally, there‘s no way it‘s that easy. But you‘re a freeholding lord, John. That means that you can‘t be challenged by a lower level guy like that without getting his boss involved, and his boss is the Winter Queen, Mab. If he picked a fight with you and lost it? He‘d probably wouldn‘t even survive the punishment. At the same time, if he won? Your hold could declare war on the Winter Court because he did it without permission from the Queen. Pretty much, he picked the wrong mortal to try to snack on.”

I considered the validity of his words and nodded. I had read the same Accords as he, and as complex as the rules had sounded, my lawyers had been clear on certain points. I couldn't be easily attacked outside the right channels without invoking a lot of trouble for the attacker. The Denarians had used this to their advantage last time they came to Chicago.

“Let‘s get out of here,” said Harry.

We set off down the path again, and for once I didn’t keep my eyes on Harry but rather I kept watch on the silent, but dark forest around us.  
*-*-*-*

When we stepped through the point of the Ways that returned us back to Chicago, I was surprised to see that it was now daylight. The social engagement had begun at ten p.m. at night, and even with all the excitement of the bomber, it hadn’t even been midnight when we had exited this world. Harry grunted, not sounding surprised at the dull afternoon sunshine breaking through heavy clouds down to us.

“Yeah, I thought that would happen,” Harry said. “Hopefully it‘s the next day and not any later.”

“That would be unfortunate,” I said. Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a cellphone.

Harry made a noise of disbelief. “You don‘t think that‘s actually working, do you? No way did it survive ending up in the Nevernever!”

I took several steps away from him and pushed down on the button that would turn the phone on. The moment I had seen Harry Dresden, I had turned off all the electronic items on my person. Not just the cellphone but also my PDA, and a couple other items. I had noticed that such sensitive equipment could survive the presence of various magical energies if they were first turned off. Without electricity flowing within them, there was nothing to be disrupted. They were simply inert ceramics, metals, and plastics.

Harry crossed his arms and wore an interested expression.

Unfortunately, as soon as the phone flickered to life it sparked and died with a faint puff of white smoke. I frowned and turned to Harry, who just grinned at me.

“Told you so,” Harry said with smug delight.

I sighed in exasperation, and tucked the now dead cellphone back into my pocket.

“I do believe you derive entirely too much pleasure at the destruction of my property, Dresden,” I said crossly.

Harry just grinned at me. It was exasperating how attractive the man was even at his most irritating.

As neither of us had any means of transport, it became necessary to acquire other means of returning to the hotel. Harry managed to find a taxi, surprisingly quickly considering that our location was not at all near a major traffic area. A quiet word to the taxi driver as well as the application of a twenty dollar bill and I was allowed the use of his private phone to put forth a call to Mr. Hendricks.

As soon as he answered I could hear in his tone his relief at my continued survival. He informed me that Helen had kept the situation well in hand, and had refused to acknowledge the possibility of my demise to the media until an examination of the explosion site could be carefully conducted. I gave him the orders to return to the hotel with the limo and to be on guard for further attacks of a similar nature. It only took me saying, Denarians to him, for Mr. Hendricks to understand the depth of the situation. Mr. Hendricks harbored a sore spot for the Denarians that was nearly equal to my own.

Harry whistled in disbelief as the taxi pulled into the block of the hotel.

My eyebrows went up in surprise at my first view of my building. It was more intact than I would have thought.

The taxi was forced to pull off to the side, as several police officers waved him away to keep him from going further down the street. I handed the driver the payment, then I stepped out of the taxi gazing at the blackened front side of the building. All the windows were broken and there was also minor damage to plenty of the neighboring buildings, but damage that I thought the bomb would have inflicted on the hotel was so much less than I had estimated from the amount of explosive I have seen on the bomber. The explosion had only destroyed two floors; even then the damage was only partial. Either I had been sorely mistaken about the explosive potential of the amount of C4 or-

I turned to face Harry who was standing silently next to me, also gazing up at the damaged hotel.

“When I made the second shield, I made it so deflected a lot of the explosion away from the main body of the hotel,” Harry said, in answer to my silent question. There was a rather smug smile on his face. “So a lot of the kaboom went outwards instead of into the building.”

“It seems that I owe you more than one debt, Mr. Dresden,” I said. Instead of looking disgusted at the idea, Harry looked at me with intent. I eyed him warily.

“Then promise me you won‘t go after Deirdre on your own,” he demanded.

I stiffened. How had he known I was contemplating such an action?

“I don‘t think that‘s any of your concern, Mr. Dresden,” I said coldly.

“I wish,” Harry said. “But that‘s not how it went down last time. If you get any sort of trail on Deirdre, you need to let me know. There‘s no way you‘ll be able to knock her off on your own.”

“Very well,” I said grudgingly. I couldn't think of a logical reason to refuse his request. Other than my own personal reluctance to involve him in this business. Harry did have the annoying habit of increasing the amount of damage sustained to property nearly exponentially, by his presence alone. And usually it was my insurance premiums that suffered, because where ever Harry Dresden went, explosions of various sorts were sure to follow. Although, he did often manage to inflict the destruction on his enemies than upon his allies.

“I have your contact information,” I said. I had his personal as well as his office numbers though I was careful to only contact him through his office line.

“You can call me at home, sometimes I don‘t get to check in on my office until later.”

“Very well,” I said, surprised to see no unease in him when I didn’t ask for the number.

The sound of various police officers heading in our direction made us carefully fall back out of sight. The last thing we needed was to be pulled aside for questioning. Though, I was certain that I would be the one who would be the focus of such an interrogation, I did not feel like spending the next several hours staring at whatever detective was assigned to my interrogation until my lawyers managed to pry me from their clutches.

“They‘re not SI,” Harry noted. He was carefully scanning the faces of the officers without letting his interest catch their attention.

“I doubt they would consider it a situation worthy of the attention of Special Investigations,” I said. “There were quite a few prominent political officials in that ballroom during the shooting. That alone would make certain that the police officers at the scene are their ‘best and brightest’.”

“Yeah, I‘m sure,” Harry said sarcastically. “And they’re probably just going to put this down to terrorist attack and not look one bit further.”

“I certainly hope so,” I said.

Harry shot me an inquiring look.

“There‘s entirely too much of chance of a good officer finding a hint of the Denarians and following that lead. _They_ are well past the police’s pay grade,” I answered him.

He sighed and agreed. “Murphy going to ask me what happened as soon as word gets out that I was there,” he said glumly.

“The sergeant is a very good investigator,” I said.

“Speaking of investigations and questions,” Harry turned to me.

I very carefully kept my trepidation from showing on my face.

“You kissed me before,” he said. “And I don‘t think you did it just to screw with me.”

I stared at him, and he must have mentally gone over what he’d just said for he blushed to a bright shade of red. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh, you know what I mean,” Harry grumbled, glowering at me.

“It is nothing that concerns you for it won‘t happen again,” I said calmly.

He was still frowning at me, but he looked more puzzled than anything else. Before he could say another word, I heard the smooth growl of the engine installed in my limousine. I could recognize that sound anywhere, even over Chicago traffic.

“Do you need a ride back to your office?” I asked politely as I stepped forwards to the curve where the limo would undoubtedly stop as soon as Mr. Hendricks caught sight of me.

Harry grabbed my arm again and I looked up at him, my expression blank and cold. My fingers twitched and I had to suppress my instincts to go for one of my knives.

“You meant it didn‘t you?” asked Harry. His dark eyes looked down at me with such intensity that if I hadn’t known that a soulgaze could not occur more than once in a lifetime I would have thought that it would happen between us again.

“My car is vastly safer, and less distinctive than the automobile you insist upon driving, Mr. Dresden,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding him.

Harry sighed in exasperation. “You know what I meant.”

I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, John. Have it your way. For now,” he said, letting my arm go. “But you know how stubborn I am about finding out everything when I start investigating.”

I stilled. Now from Harry that was a worthy threat.

“If you follow through and open that particular Pandora‘s Box, Mr. Dresden,” I said softly. “You better be certain you want what you let out.” And this time, I let my hunger for him show in my eyes and in the intent way that I looked his body up and down.

His eyes widened, and his nervous swallow was clearly audible.

“Okay,” he rasped. “I can handle that.”

Now, it was my turn for my eyes to widen at him. I was so shocked I could not come up with a single respond to his words. He smiled at having taken me so off-guard.

“You better mean that, Mr. Dresden,” I finally said. “I rarely let go of the things I truly want.”

“Why do you always have to lay down the threats?” Harry asked. He was back to frowning at me.

“That wasn‘t a threat, it was more of a promise,” I corrected him.

“Okay,” he said. “Then when I do open that box, I‘ll mean it. Now, I got people I need to question and if I catch anything about Deirdre, I‘ll call you.”

He turned and began walking away.

I stared after him, caught off-guard yet again by his words and by the rapid change of topic. Mr. Hendricks finally managed to get the limo into position and had parked it at the curb. He stepped out, reaching over to my side to open the door.

“The mansion, Mr. Hendricks,” I ordered. Mr. Hendricks just nodded.

I had my own search to begin. If the Denarians were back to Chicago, I had a vastly superior arsenal at my disposal than I had before my abduction at their hands.

This time, the Denarians would not leave Chicago alive.

That was a threat, _and_ a promise.

End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my experiment at trying out Marcone's voice.


End file.
